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Understanding Psychology: Definition, Schools of Thought, and Key Concepts, Study notes of Psychology

An overview of psychology, its definition, and various schools of thought. It covers structuralism, functionalism, gestalt psychology, neuroscience, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and cognitive psychology. Each approach is explained, and the contributions of key thinkers are highlighted.

What you will learn

  • What is the definition of psychology?
  • How does each school of thought approach the study of human behavior?
  • What are the major schools of thought in psychology?

Typology: Study notes

2018/2019

Uploaded on 10/15/2021

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What is Psychology?
Psychology is the science of the mind and behaviour. The word "psychology" comes from
the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul", and the Greek word logia meaning
the study of something. In the old ages the sum of this whole word was known as 'study
of soul'. For the sake of better understanding of what does mean by psychology few of
the definitions by various researchers have been given below:
Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour. It is both a thriving
academic discipline and a vital professional practice. (The British Psychological Society)
The scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes. (American
Psychological Association)
Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental
processes and behavior. (Wikipedia)
The constant theme across these definitions is that psychology is fundamentally
concerned with understanding Behavior (colclusion).
However, according to the modern psychologists the simplicity of the definition that
attribute psychology with behaviour is somewhat deceiving and conceals the broad
scope of subject. Most of the psychologists are of the view the definition of psychology
should not be confined to the study of behaviour in its simple way. Rather, they argue
that the field should be receptive to a variety of viewpoints and approaches.
Consequently, the phrase behaviour and metal processes in the defintion of psychology
must be understood to mean many things: It encompasses not just what people do but
also their perceptions, emotions, thoughts, reasoning processes, memories and even the
biological processes maintaining body functions.
Psychologists explore concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion,
phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal
relationships. Psychologists of diverse stripes also consider the unconscious mind as well
as help to change and improve the lives of people and the world in which they live. They
use scientific methods to answers that are far more valid and legitimate than those
resulting from speculation.
school of thoughts of psychology..
The phrase 'school of thought' means for a particular idea or set of ideas held by a
specific group; doctrine. Any idea that a group strongly believes in, be it through
practising this idea in their everyday life or through fighting for its adoption, can be
considered a school of thought. There are several school of thoughts for the purpose of
studying psychology. Each of them views this subject from different perspective and
makes its own effort to define a particular phenomenon related to human behaviour.
Sometimes it appears that each of them has its unique position and importance, for no
single school of thought is able to define controversies and complexities concerned with
defining human behaviour. The combination of two, or sometime, more work
appropriately. An attempt of defining different school of thoughts have been made
below:
The early school of thoughts.
Structuralism
Structuralism was the first school of psychology, and focused on breaking down mental
processes into the most basic components. Major structuralist thinkers include Wilhelm
Wundt and Edward Titchener. The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental
processes down into their most basic elements. Structuralists used techniques such as
introspection to analyze the inner processes of the human mind.
Functionalism
The perspective that replaced structualism is known as functionalism. Rather than
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What is Psychology? Psychology is the science of the mind and behaviour. The word "psychology" comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul", and the Greek word logia meaning the study of something. In the old ages the sum of this whole word was known as 'study of soul'. For the sake of better understanding of what does mean by psychology few of the definitions by various researchers have been given below: Psychology is the scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour. It is both a thriving academic discipline and a vital professional practice. (The British Psychological Society) The scientific study of the behavior of individuals and their mental processes. (American Psychological Association) Psychology is an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. (Wikipedia) The constant theme across these definitions is that psychology is fundamentally concerned with understanding Behavior (colclusion). However, according to the modern psychologists the simplicity of the definition that attribute psychology with behaviour is somewhat deceiving and conceals the broad scope of subject. Most of the psychologists are of the view the definition of psychology should not be confined to the study of behaviour in its simple way. Rather, they argue that the field should be receptive to a variety of viewpoints and approaches. Consequently, the phrase behaviour and metal processes in the defintion of psychology must be understood to mean many things: It encompasses not just what people do but also their perceptions, emotions, thoughts, reasoning processes, memories and even the biological processes maintaining body functions. Psychologists explore concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behavior, and interpersonal relationships. Psychologists of diverse stripes also consider the unconscious mind as well as help to change and improve the lives of people and the world in which they live. They use scientific methods to answers that are far more valid and legitimate than those resulting from speculation. school of thoughts of psychology.. The phrase 'school of thought' means for a particular idea or set of ideas held by a specific group; doctrine. Any idea that a group strongly believes in, be it through practising this idea in their everyday life or through fighting for its adoption, can be considered a school of thought. There are several school of thoughts for the purpose of studying psychology. Each of them views this subject from different perspective and makes its own effort to define a particular phenomenon related to human behaviour. Sometimes it appears that each of them has its unique position and importance, for no single school of thought is able to define controversies and complexities concerned with defining human behaviour. The combination of two, or sometime, more work appropriately. An attempt of defining different school of thoughts have been made below: The early school of thoughts. Structuralism Structuralism was the first school of psychology, and focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Major structuralist thinkers include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental processes down into their most basic elements. Structuralists used techniques such as introspection to analyze the inner processes of the human mind. Functionalism The perspective that replaced structualism is known as functionalism. Rather than

focusing on the mind's structure, functionalism concentrated on what the mind does and how behaviour functions.Major functionalist thinkers included william james, John Dewey and Harvey Carr. Gestalt Psychology Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that we experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. Instead of breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest elements, the gestalt psychologists believed that you must look at the whole of experience. According to the gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One thing is noteworthy that all the psychologist irrespective of their doctrines share a common goal: that is to explain and understand behaviour using scientific methods rather than philosophical abstractions. In the view of this fact and due to complex nature of human behaviour the psychology is an ever developing field. The modern perspectives/ school of thoughts of psychology have their roots in the ancient periods but they are however different from them in their approach and other respects. The modern school of thoughts are following: Modern school of thoughts 1--The neuroscience perspective. Biological psychology or behavioral neuroscience is the study of the biological substrates of behavior and mental processes. The neuroscience perspective considers how people and nonhumans function biologically: how individual nerve cells are joined together, how the inheritance of certain characteristics from parents and other ancestors influence behaviour, how functioning of the body affects hopes and fears, which behaviours are instinctual, and likewise. Because every behaviour ultimately can be broken down into its biological components, the neuroscience perspective has broad appeal. Neuroscientists have made major contributions to the understanding and betterment of human life. 2 --Behaviorism Behaviorism became a dominant school of thought during the 1950s. It was based upon the work of thinkers such as: John B. Watson Ivan Pavlov B. F. Skinner Behaviorism suggests that all behavior can be explained by environmental causes rather than by internal forces. Behaviorism is focused on observable behavior. Theories of learning including classical conditioning and operant conditioning were the focus of a great deal of research. 3--Psychoanalysis or psychodynamic Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. This school of thought emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. Supporters of the psychodyanmic perspective argue that behaviour is motivated by inner forces about which we have little awareness and are almost out of our control. Freud's school of thought was enormously influential, but also generated a great deal of controversy. This controversy existed not only in his time, but also in modern discussions of Freud's theories. 4--Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy and linguistics. Cognitive psychology began to emerge during the 1950s,